Irrigating geographic areas can be very complex. Many systems employ a diverse irrigation program to efficiently supply appropriate amounts or water. Often in implementing irrigation, adjacent areas have very different watering needs adding to the complexity.
Many irrigation systems attempt to optimize the watering efficiency. Further, systems attempt to avoid over watering. Rain, however, often interferes with the optimal watering of plant life already receiving water from an irrigation system. Large amounts of rain along with water delivered from the irrigation system can damage plant life, which can be economically devastating for some irrigated areas such as agriculture, golf courses and other such areas.
Some irrigation systems shut down the irrigation if a predefined amount of rain is detected. These systems, however, do not provide accurate and efficient watering. Further, these systems often waste water because of slow response times.